Asisa Joventut and Unicaja Málaga face this Wednesday against AEK from Athens and Alba from Berlinn, respectively, the first match of Champions League quarterfinals of the FIBA with the aim of taking advantage, the Catalans, at home and the Andalusians, at home for next week’s clash.
The green and black, who arrive in good momentum, will have the obligation to at least win one duel at the Sunel Arena if they want to play the Final Four as hosts in their own pavilion between May 7 and 9, a very difficult mission due to the absences of the Ante Tomic and Simon Birgander injuredhis two most decisive interiors, so the coach, Dani Miret, will have to turn to youngsters Michael Ruzic and Miguel Allen to play in the ‘5’ position.
To the losses of Tomic and Birgander, which considerably reduce the green-and-black game in the paint, is also added that of point guard Guillem Vives, who is recovering from a sprained ankle.
With the duda de Guillem Vives due to a sprained ankle, La Penya faces a AEK which has been the only team that has remained undefeated throughout the Top-16 and it has one of the most impressive local environments in the entire competition.
However, the statistics reflect, a priori, a tremendous equality between both teams, which in attack average a similar annotation (86.8 points for the Greeks and 86.6 for the Spanish) and some almost identical shooting percentages (47.8% both in field goals and 36.6% and 36.1% in triples).
And also a very even defensive balance, since the team led by Dragan Sakota concedes 78.9 points per game, compared to the 78.3 conceded by Dani Miret’s men.
To win in Athens, Joventut will have to neutralize the performance of two AEK players who are in the ideal quintet of the Top-16: power forward RaiQuan Gray (13.3 points and 4 rebounds) and the Frank Barley escort (16.7 points average, with 40% in triples).
To do this, the Badalona team has an inspired Ricky Rubiowith averages of 12 points and 5 assists per game. The Masnou player encouraged the green-black fans on social networks by warning that these matches against the Greeks will be the most important of the season.
There is only un historical precedent between both teams, also in a European quarter-final tie dating back to 1970, also the best of three games, and which AEK managed to win in a third game. In that third match, before no more and no less than 40,000 people in the Olympic stadium, the Greek team won by a resounding 74-46.
Unicaja seeks revenge for 2019
Unicaja Malaga and Alba Berlin They reissue their EuroCup 2019 quarterfinal duel where the Malaga team won the first game as a visitor, but the German team came back to win the next two games and reach the semifinals.
The two-time FIBA UCL champions come into the clash after their home victory against Joventut (86-74) that gave them home-court advantage, after six consecutive victories in the group stage and two defeats in the round of 16, against Fitness First Wurzburg Baskets (80-71) and Asisa Joventut (71-66).
For his part, Alba Berlin reached the quarterfinals, sweeping Tofas Bursa and Karditsa Iaponikiin group J of the round of 16, losing only to AEK Athens
Unicaja is he best team among the participants in the round of 16 in terms of offensive efficiency (123.29 per game), and it is second in defensive efficiency (101.93), only behind AEK BC (101.76), which together with their solvency in front of their fans at the José María Martín Carpena Sports Palace, with 20 consecutive victories at home in the BCL, gives them a slight advantage in the tie.
However, the company will not be easy, since Berlin Dawn It leads the offensive rebounding classification with a percentage of 37.8 percent and is the second team with the most steals per game (9.8) and assists (73.4%).
Unicaja clings to the best version of Kendrick Perry while Alba Berlin has the talent of young Jack Kayil as a differentiating factor.
Schedule and where to watch the FIBA Champions League quarterfinals
The parties of FIBA Champions League quarterfinals disputed by the Spanish teams of the ACB League, Asisa Joventut and Unicaja Málaga They can be seen live and free this Wednesday on Teledeporte and the RTVE Play digital platform.
The day starts at 6:30 p.m. with the duel between AEK from Athens and Joventut from Badalona which is held in the Suner pavilion in the Greek capital and will be narrated by Mario Ojuel. Next it will be the turn of the match that will be played starting at 8:30 p.m. in the Martín Carpena Pavilion between Unicaja Málaga and Alba de Berlinand which will feature the narration of Jesús Cebrián.
